by Onk Beakman
“Those aren’t clouds,” Smolderdash said as she took a closer look. “That’s Wool Mountain.”
“I’ve been there,” shouted Spyro, immediately running for the doors. “We’ll find the fragment in no time. Come on, guys!”
With a cheer, the other Skylanders chased after the dragon, who was heading back to the Portal Room. Master Eon chuckled as he watched them go. His Skylanders were always so full of enthusiasm, no matter how dark the situation. And long may it continue, he said to himself.
However, even as he listened to the Skylanders’ excited cries, Master Eon failed to notice something very strange. Behind him, at the back of the library, stood a small wooden chair. It seemed normal enough until, once Master Eon’s back was turned, it started to move. Slowly, quietly, the wooden stool crept off by itself and scurried out of the room.
Chapter Four
Wool Mountain
Heh, how hard can it be to find one sheep?” Food Fight said as the Skylanders took the Portal to Wool Mountain.
Trigger Happy’s yellow eyes widened as he took in the scene in front of them. “Pretty hard—yeah, yeah, yeah.”
He wasn’t wrong. The mountainside was covered in sheep—sheep to the left, sheep to the right, sheep up high, and sheep down below.
“It’s fine,” insisted Spyro, turning to face Smolderdash. “Have you got the piece of paper Master Eon gave us?”
The Fire Skylander held out a single page of brittle parchment. “This is from the Book of Power itself,” she said. “It will glow once we get close to the fragment, which is disguised as one of these sheep.”
Spyro told her to rip the paper into four pieces. Once that was done, Smolderdash gave a piece of it to each of them.
“Let’s spread out,” Spyro said. “We’ve got a lot of sheep to check.”
He wasn’t wrong. After an hour, the Skylanders were beginning to hope that they would never see another fleece or hear another bleat ever again.
“Could the book be, you know, wrong?” asked Food Fight, checking his 284,829th sheep.
“It hasn’t been so far,” pointed out Spyro, pressing his paper against an uninterested sheep’s wooly back and frowning as the paper stubbornly refused to glow.
“It’s definitely here,” jabbered Trigger Happy, looking into the sky.
“How can you tell?” asked Food Fight.
“Because he’s here!” replied the Tech Skylander.
“Who?” asked Smolderdash. She gazed up to where Trigger Happy was looking and glowered at what she saw. “Oh, him!”
Something had appeared in the sky. Something big. Something ugly. Something bald. And something exceptionally evil.
“Kaos!” Spyro hissed through clenched fangs.
“Yes, it is I, KAOOOOS!” the evil Portal Master roared down at them from on high. Or rather, his giant floating head roared.
This was one of Kaos’s latest tricks. In reality, the Skylanders’ archenemy was a small, weedy so-and-so. He had a scrawny body, a distinct lack of hair, and even less personal hygiene. At first glance you could be forgiven for dismissing him out of hand, but that would be a mistake. Despite his appearance, Kaos was one of the most dangerous and powerful beings in Skylands, and really mean to boot.
To make sure everyone feared him, he had started projecting a huge, scary version of his head into the sky. In all honesty, it was far more impressive than his real head—but Spyro knew it was all a trick.
“What are you doing here?” Spyro snarled, flying up to face the giant head.
“What do you think, dragonfly?” Kaos sneered. “I’m here to claim what is rightfully mine. The Mask of POWER!”
On the ground, Food Fight stared at the giant face. “I don’t get it. How did he know we’d turnip here? The Magic segment’s location was supposed to be secret!”
Kaos’s giant face swiveled to look down at the Life Skylander. “Well, that’s for me to know, fruit face, and for you to NEVER find out.”
“We won’t let you have it,” Spyro promised.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Trigger Happy agreed. “We win! Always!”
Kaos snorted. “You won’t this time, SKYLOSERS! I summon my terrible Trolls in their flying machines!” He paused, frowning. “No, that doesn’t sound right. Let’s try again. I summon my terrible Trolls in their flying machines OF DOOOOOM! Yes, that’s much better.”
As Kaos babbled, the air filled with the sound of rattling engines and propeller blades. Six Troll fighter planes swept around Kaos’s head. They looked incredibly rickety, with more wings than they really needed and dozens of Trolls crammed into each cockpit. They were also packed with all kinds of weapons.
Kaos unleashed his most maniacal laugh yet as the planes swooped down, firing at the Skylanders on the ground, guns blazing. And these were no ordinary guns. They fired Chompies—little green critters with big gnashing teeth.
“Protect the sheep!” Spyro roared. “Any of them might be the segment!”
“Way ahead of you, Spyro,” Food Fight shouted back, raising his fruit cannon. “Eat my veggies!”
The Life Skylander squeezed his trigger, and a volley of zucchini hit the first Troll Fighter right in the propeller. The machine exploded, sending Trolls and Chompies alike crashing to the ground.
Food Fight didn’t have time to celebrate, however. Another plane was coming straight for him, sweeping low over the sheep to try to take the Life Skylander out of the battle.
Chapter Five
The Magic Segment
Food Fight noticed the incoming plane just a little too late. He turned to aim his weapon, but didn’t have time to target the Trolls.
Luckily, he wasn’t on his own.
“You’re not so bright,” Smolderdash said with a grin. She jumped to her friend’s aid, a flaming whip appearing in her hand. “Unlike me!”
Shrieking, the Trolls tried to pull up, but it was too late. Smolderdash’s whip raked across the plane’s body, cutting the flying machine in two.
“NOOOOO!” screamed Kaos from above. “What are you doing, FOOLS? You should be destroying them, not the other way around!”
“It’s four against four now,” Spyro shouted as he swooped down toward his fellow Skylanders. “Hey, Trigger Happy! Want to go for a spin?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Trigger Happy yelled back, immediately catching Spyro’s drift. Looking up at the purple dragon, he stuck out his tongue—but he wasn’t being rude. When Trigger Happy sticks out his tongue, he REALLY sticks out his tongue. It shot up into the air, and Spyro grabbed it. At once, the super-stretchy licker snapped back to its normal length like an elastic band, propelling Trigger Happy up toward his friend. Flipping over, the Tech Skylander landed on Spyro’s scaly back.
“Locked and loaded!” Trigger Happy cried with delight as Spyro soared toward the nearest flying machine.
“Let’s go Troll hunting!” the dragon cheered as Trigger Happy gleefully fired gold coins into the air.
The Trolls in the plane hadn’t even noticed that Spyro and Trigger Happy were coming. They had locked on to Smolderdash and were firing Chompy after Chompy at the Fire Skylander. Not that it mattered. Spyro swooped low, and Trigger Happy blew the plane to bits with an exploding golden safe. Oh yes, Trigger Happy had more than just golden coins in his arsenal.
As the flying machine smashed into the ground, Spyro swept over to Smolderdash. “Smolderdash,” the dragon shouted down as he banked in the air. “You and Food Fight find the sheep. We’ll take care of the Trolls.”
“Yeah, take care,” Trigger Happy repeated merrily. “Pow! Pow! Pow!”
Smolderdash and Food Fight went to work, rushing their way through the sheep as the battle raged in the sky above them.
Soon the fourth flying machine had found itself torched by Spyro’s fiery breath, while the fifth was downed by more of Trigger Ha
ppy’s never-ending supply of ammo.
Now there was only one plane left to defeat.
“Where is it?” said Spyro, glancing around. The Troll fighter was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, Trigger Happy bounced up and down on Spyro’s back. “Up, up, up!” the gremlin gabbled.
Spyro looked up to see the remaining fighter plane screaming down right on top of them.
“Hold on!” he shouted, coming to an abrupt halt in the air. Chompies streamed around them, the plane getting nearer by the second. “And hold your fire, too,” Spyro added.
Trigger Happy frowned. Stop firing? Had Spyro gone crazy? The plummeting plane was getting dangerously close. Perhaps one of those Chompies had hit the dragon a bit too hard on his horned head.
But, right at the last moment, Spyro darted out of the way with a flap of his leathery wings.
The pilot’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates when he realized the Troll fighter was diving too fast. There was no way it could pull up in time . . . BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The sound of the explosion echoed across the mountainside.
“Oh yeah!” Spyro cheered. “This is one dragon who can never be beaten. And the same goes for you, Trigger Happy!”
Trigger Happy’s only response was to fire more coins into the air, even though all of the Trolls had been totally defeated. “Pow, pow, POW!”
“Well, you may have won the battle, SKYBLUNDERERS,” Kaos shouted, obviously trying to hide his disappointment, “but you’ll never find the last segment of the mask!”
“Is that so, potato head?” shouted a voice from below. Spyro looked down to see Food Fight standing triumphantly next to a confused-looking sheep. Even better, the scrap of paper from the Book of Power was glowing brighter than Smolderdash.
“Well done, Food Fight!” Spyro said, dropping down as Trigger Happy vaulted off his back. Defiantly, the purple dragon glared up at Kaos. “What do you say to that, Kaos? Who’s the loser now?”
The Skylanders dropped into defensive poses, each ready for whatever horror Kaos was going to unleash next. One thing was certain: The evil Portal Master wouldn’t give up without a fight.
“You found it,” Kaos wailed, his lip wobbling. “I’m DOOOOOOOOMED!”
“You are?” Smolderdash asked, completely bewildered.
“Please don’t hurt me,” Kaos pleaded, his head shrinking in front of their amazed eyes. “I’m not worth it! You have won and I have lost—FOREVER!”
“This is weird,” Food Fight muttered. “What’s the sly spud up to?”
Spyro had to agree. He’d never seen Kaos like this.
The Portal Master’s giant head wasn’t even that giant anymore. It had almost shrunk down to its normal size.
“Farewell, Skylanders,” he said, bawling. “After all our battles, it appears that the only fool in Skylands is KAOOOOOOOS! You will never hear of me again.”
With a rather disappointing flash of light, the Portal Master was gone.
The Skylanders stood for a second, still expecting an attack, but the only sound on Wool Mountain was the bleating of a thousand sheep.
“Did that just happen?” asked Food Fight.
Spyro shrugged in answer. Could it be that, after all this time, Kaos had just admitted defeat?
Chapter Six
Safe and Sound
“Well done, my Skylanders,” Master Eon said as Spyro, Trigger Happy, and the others appeared on the Portal of Power along with an increasingly befuddled-looking sheep.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!” yelped a small bespectacled Mabu standing beside the Portal Master. “What do you think you’re doing bringing that monstrosity here? Get it out! Get it out, now!”
This was Hugo, Master Eon’s timid assistant and librarian. For reasons known only to himself, Hugo had a morbid fear of sheep and was forever trying his best to convince the Skylanders that the woolly creatures were plotting to take over the entire universe. The appearance of one inside the Citadel was too much for him to bear.
“Calm down, Hugo,” Master Eon said, before turning his attention back to Spyro. “Is this the segment?”
Spyro held up his glowing scrap of paper. “I think so.”
Without another word, Master Eon raised his arms. The Portal Room crackled with energy as his magic started to build.
“Reveal yourself, last fragment of the mask,” the Portal Master commanded. At once, the sheep stopped chewing, and a blank expression fell across its already distracted features. As the Skylanders watched—and Hugo cowered behind Eon’s robes—the animal floated into the air and started spinning around and around and around and around.
Spyro could feel his scales tingling as the sheep spun so fast it became a woolly blur and then blazed with light. Even Smolderdash had to turn away, and when they looked back the sheep was gone, replaced with a wooden fragment of mask.
“Behold the Magic segment,” Master Eon said as the fragment floated over to land in his open hand.
“Thank goodness for that.” Hugo sighed, pleased that the sheep was gone—oh, and glad that Kaos hadn’t taken the last segment of the Mask of Power, of course.
Master Eon turned to the small Mabu. “Hugo, would you place this in the safe with the other fragments?”
“Of course,” Hugo said, trying to make himself sound as important as possible. “It will be a pleasure.”
“The sooner that thing’s locked up, the better,” Food Fight added. “Away from Kaos, that is.”
“Do you think he meant what he said?” asked Smolderdash. “About being defeated, I mean.”
Spyro frowned. “I’m not sure. He sounded sincere . . .”
“But when have we ever trusted him before, eh, eh, eh?” Trigger Happy pointed out.
“Well, better to be safe than sorry,” said Hugo, scurrying off. “Do you see what I did there? Better to be safe? As in, I’m putting this in a safe.”
Master Eon rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, very funny. Now hurry up, will you?”
But Hugo was already gone.
The safe was in the heart of the Citadel library, between the Ancient Arkeyan History section and Advanced Basket Weaving. It was definitely the safest place for it, too. Only Hugo could find his way around the maze of bookshelves and cabinets. He’d worked here his whole life, cataloging Master Eon’s vast collection of books—a collection, it was said, that was rivaled only by the legendary Eternal Archive of the Warrior Librarians.
The library was so big that Master Eon had installed mini Portals to help Hugo jump between departments quickly—otherwise he could spend months trudging through the dusty bookshelves.
As he waddled toward the safe, Hugo hummed a tune, not because he was happy, but because he was nervous. Ever since he’d left the Portal Room, he had felt sure that he was being followed. It was a ridiculous feeling, he knew. No one could get into the Citadel, except for the Skylanders, of course, and none of them would follow him this far into the library—even for a joke. Some Skylanders, such as Trigger Happy, often played pranks on the studious librarian. The gremlin was still giggling about the time he had hidden a sheep in a barrel of Hugo’s favorite cookies. Hugo had settled down for some hot chocolate and a cookie and BAAAAAAA! The woolly beast had popped out like a jack-in-the-box. You could probably have heard Hugo’s scream in the Outlands.
But this was different. Even Trigger Happy wouldn’t play a trick on him today, not when he was carrying the last segment of the mask.
And yet, every now and then, Hugo thought he could hear tiny feet running after him. The Mabu stopped and looked around. There was no one there. The corridor behind him was empty, except for a big red book that was just lying on the floor. Hugo clicked his tongue and padded over to the book, slotting it back onto a shelf.
“A place for everything, and everything in its place,” he muttered to himself, his voice sou
nding very small in the echoey hallway.
Hugo continued on his way, turning right at the Legendary Treasures collection, when he heard the noise again. Those feet chasing after him.
“Now, look here . . . ,” he said, whirling around. But once again he was alone. All alone, except for a large red book lying on the floor. That couldn’t be right, could it? Surely he would have noticed another book lying on the floor as he hurried past, and besides, it was a bit of a coincidence, wasn’t it? Two red books out of place?
Cautiously, Hugo walked up to the book and tapped it with his foot. No, it couldn’t be the same book. That was silly. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he made a decision. “I’ll put the segment into the safe and then come back and find where this book should be. Yes, that’s what I’ll do.”
But this time Hugo ran along the corridors. He was puffing and panting by the time he reached the safe. It was carved out of magical stone, and was impossible to open without a special code. Breathing heavily, Hugo reached forward and started turning the dial on the safe door, entering the combination that only he and Master Eon knew.
Fourteen, ten, twenty, eleven . . .
Hugo’s ears twitched as he heard something move behind him, but he ignored the noise.
. . . twelve, twenty, ten, nineteen . . .
The noise was getting louder now. It was definitely the pattering of feet against the flagstones. Hugo rushed through the final digits of the complicated combination.
. . . twelve, ten, twenty, thirteen.
The lock clanged open, and something roared behind Hugo. Startled, he looked over his shoulder to see the red book running straight toward him on little red legs.
“No!” Hugo squealed, flattening his back against the safe and clutching the segment to his chest. “That’s not possible.”
But it wasn’t as impossible as what happened next. As the book sprinted forward, it started to change. Its legs grew thicker, and muscular arms sprang from its covers. The book doubled in size, and then quadrupled. The red limbs became green. A head appeared on newly formed broad shoulders. The head had a flattened snout, beady eyes, and a leering mouth full of sharp teeth. By the time Hugo screamed for help, the book had transformed into a charging Goliath Drow, with a golden pendant sparkling around its bulging neck.